SEO Company · South Africa
Honey Whale has been ranking South African businesses on Google since 2018. Not just any rankings: the right pages for the right searches, with traffic that actually converts.
What sets the work apart is AEO. We structure your site to be cited by ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google's AI Overviews, alongside ranking it traditionally. SEO built for the next decade of search, not just the last one.
Search has changed more in the last two years than in the previous ten. Google's AI Overviews now answer queries directly in the results page. ChatGPT and Perplexity are sending referral traffic that didn't exist three years ago. The businesses showing up in AI-generated answers are the ones whose content is structured to be cited, not just ranked.
This is what we call Answer Engine Optimisation (AEO). AEO doesn't replace traditional SEO, it builds on it. It's what happens when you do SEO properly for the way search works now.
Three SEO disciplines, each with its own approach. Ecommerce SEO for product-driven Shopify stores. Service-based SEO for professional service businesses. Local SEO for businesses found by proximity.
Every retainer is long-form: SEO isn't a quick fix and we don't pretend otherwise. But we're transparent about pricing, realistic about timelines, and specific about what we do.
Different businesses, different SEO strategies. Each discipline below is built for a specific kind of business.
From R12,500/mo
3-month minimum
For Shopify and WooCommerce stores that need to rank their product and collection pages for buyers actively searching to purchase. Ecommerce SEO is a different discipline to service-based or local SEO, with its own strategy for product schema, collection architecture, and conversion-focused content.
From R13,500/mo
3-month minimum
For professional service businesses: accountants, attorneys, architects, consultants, medical practices. The conversion is an enquiry, not a product sale, which means the SEO strategy looks different. We focus on intent-matching content, authority-building, and local presence alongside national reach.
From R11,500/mo
3-month minimum
For businesses that serve customers in a specific geographic area - retail, hospitality, food, trade services, and multi-location businesses. Local SEO optimises your Google Business Profile, local citations, proximity signals, and map pack presence alongside on-site optimisation.
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Numbers anybody can put on a website.
These ones have case studies behind them.
43.59
ROAS
Return on ad spend.Shopify build + Google Ads + SEO.
978% Keyword rankings growth
Shopify Build + SEO
1,015%
Top-5 Google rankings. SEO
33x ROAS
Return on ad spend. WooCommerce MIgration + Google Ads + Meta Ads.
Honey Whale's SEO retainers start from R11,500 per month for Local SEO, R12,500 per month for Ecommerce SEO, and R13,500 per month for Service-Based SEO. All retainers have a minimum term - 3 months for Lite tiers, 6 months for Full tiers. We also offer a once-off SEO/AEO Audit for R8,500 for businesses that want to assess their position before committing to a retainer.
Honest answer: it depends on how competitive your category is and how much work your site needs before it can rank. For a new site in a competitive category, expect 4–6 months before meaningful organic movement. For an established site with solid technical foundations, improvements can appear in 6–12 weeks. We'll give you a realistic timeline after we've audited your site - not a number designed to win your business.
SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) is the practice of getting your pages to rank in traditional search results. AEO (Answer Engine Optimisation) is the practice of getting your content cited in AI-generated answers - in tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google's AI Overviews. In 2026, a growing percentage of search queries are answered directly by AI without a traditional click. AEO is how you appear in those answers. Honey Whale is the first South African agency to offer AEO as a formal service.
We don't guarantee specific rankings - anyone who does is either lying or has very creative terms and conditions. We guarantee our work: that we will do what we say, report honestly on what's happening, and tell you if something isn't working before you notice it yourself. We've been doing this since 2016. Our case study results are public. That's a more meaningful guarantee than a ranking promise.
Every retainer includes a monthly strategy session, on-site optimisation work, content development, link acquisition, technical monitoring, and a detailed monthly report. Exactly what gets prioritised in each month depends on what the audit shows and what stage of the campaign we're in. The full scope is agreed in writing before the retainer starts - no surprises.
Yes - Ecommerce SEO for Shopify stores is one of our strongest services. We've been building and ranking Shopify stores since 2016 and the combination of Shopify development and SEO under one roof is a significant advantage. We understand how Shopify's theme architecture affects rankings, how to structure collection pages for maximum crawl efficiency, and how to implement product schema correctly. See our Ecommerce SEO page for specifics.
